Micelles, which have many biotechnological uses, may be constructed as unimolecular structures with cascade methodology utilizing a series of chemical reactions in which building block molecules of the effective structure ##STR1## are reacted to form inter amide bonds between amino and carboxyl groups of different molecules. Initial cascade polymers have been shown to form aqueous [Newkome et al., J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1986, 752] and non-aqueous [Baker, G. R., Dissertation, L.S.U., 1989] gels which possess properties suitable to a diverse range of applications which include, but are not limited to, bacteriological, growth, microscopy media, cosmetics and toiletries, drilling muds for oil production, textile printing (such as dye paste), foods, glazes, inks, lattices, lubricants, paints, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural [Molynenx, P., Chemistry and Technology of Water-Soluable Polymers; Plenum: New York, 1983, 113-114].
The literature indicates a number multi-armed and/or polybranched compounds, which include polypods, [Fornasier et al., Tet. Lett., 1976, 1381 and Vogtle et al., Chem. Ber., 1979, 112, 899]; hydrophillic lipids [Heiman and Vogtle, Annalen, 1980, 858]; octapus and hexapus molecules [Murakami et al., J. Chem. Soc., Perkin 1, 1981, 2800]; tentacle molecules [Suckling, C. J., J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1982, 661] hexahost [MacNicol et al., J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1976, 494]; branched polyamines [Geue et al., Aust. J. Chem., 1983 36, 927]; many-armed acyclic polyethers [Vogtle et al., Angew. Chem., Int. Eng. Ed., 1974, 13, 814]; starburst-dentritic macromolecules [Tomalia et al., Polym. J., 1985, 17, 117]; starburst polyether dendrimers [Hall, Tomalia et al., J. Org. Chem., 1987, 52, 5305]; noncyclic polyaza compounds [Vogtle et al., Synth., 1978, 155], and U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,466, issued Mar. 26, 1985. However, such compounds are: 1) difficult to prepare as evidenced by the required harsh conditions, 2) insufficiently soluble in aqueous solutions for some applications, 3) irregular in their molecular construction, and 4) susceptible to decomposition under mild conditions (in some instances yield, or include, toxic by-products).
Due to their unique construction, the new monomeric compounds of the present invention circumvents these problems by allowing mild functional group interconversion and alkylation, with even sterically demanding nucleophiles, of the building block termini. Specifically, the three carbon distance, which each terminus is displaced from the quaternary carbon center of branching, makes this possible. The literature indicates a lesser distance of separation to be unacceptable for nucleophilic substitution at multiple reaction sites equidistant from a center of branching [Rice et al., J. Pharm. Sci., 1971, 60, 1760].
The juxtaposition of reactive site termini relative to branching points in the invention allows the preparation of new cascade polymers based on a multiplicative and repetitive methodology which incorporates amidation, functional group interconversion, and alkylation (nucleophilic substitution) [Newkome et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1986, 108, 849 and Newkome et al., J. Org. Chem., 1985, 50, 2003].